Built Ford Tough

I don't think it was ever in question that he would start. He is prone to pick up silly fouls, but with Bynum being at his best and most aggressive at the beginning of the game, you simply have to put Sheed out there at the start as playing Davis would simply put you at too much of a size disadvantage. Wallace needs to keep his composure tonight though if Boston is to win the game. He can't afford to pick up silly fouls as Shelden Williams is just god awful and a huge liability on the floor. He needs to play aggressive and with his usual edge, but he can't go over the edge. It is a fine line, but Wallace can't cross it or else I don't see how the Celtics are going to win with Sheed in foul trouble and having to rely on Davis and Williams for 20+ minutes each.

Are Indiana thinking of picking Daniel Orton at 10? From Chad Ford and DX Twitter accounts respectively. Taking Orton at 10 would be a huge reach, but to be perfectly honest, I would love to see that happen. Not only does it mean that the Raptors won't potentially pick him at 13 (I would pick him with a late 1st, but not a lottery pick after everything that I have heard/read/seen of him over the past month or two), but it also means that the only team ahead of the Raptors who I think would consider selecting Avery Bradley or Eric Bledsoe, well, clearly they wouldn't be taking one of them, which leaves the door open for the Raptors. As far as how Orton fits in with Indy, I am confused with this. They already have Hibbert at center, and although he is foul prone, he is definitely a serviceable player. If they are set on drafting a big, I would definitely look to get somebody like Ed Davis or Ekpe Udoh instead of Orton simply because they can play the power forward spot. Then again, Indy has a history of surprising picks.

I'm not going to lie, I actually laughed to myself when I saw this post.

I didn't vote for Boston, but I think that Kobe is the Finals MVP regardless of whether or not the Lakers win or lose this game, unless somebody like Pierce or Rondo go absolutely nuts in this game (Rondo with a monster triple double like that one against the Cavs or Pierce with a 35 point outburst). It is just hard for me to really say that anybody on the Celtics deserve MVP because there hasn't been anybody that has really stood out. It has basically been a different player every night that has stepped up for them. Allen and Rondo carried them in Game 2 but Allen has been ineffective outside of that, Pierce was great in Game 5 but has been mediocore in basically every other game, their bench carried them in 4 but has been non-existent for most of the series and Garnett was great in Boston but has struggled in LA. I just don't see how you can realistically pinpoint one Celtic player as the MVP in this series. Compare that to Kobe who has been great in this series in every game other than one (Game 3? I don't remember for sure which one it was) on both ends of the floor. He has effectively put the Lakers on his back offensively at times during portions of this series and has done a great job of defending Rondo and Allen, when he has matched up with him. He has really been the only player of this entire series who has been consistent and with Gasol's disappearing act in Boston combined with Artest's struggles and Bynum's injuries, it is pretty impressive that this series has went 7 games. I'm not saying that Kobe will win FMVP if the Celtics win, but I don't think that you can argue that he is without a doubt the most deserving of the award even if the Lakers lose. I would go with Rondo for the Celtics simply because he hasn't been spectacular in any of the games, other than Game 2, but unlike Pierce, Garnett or Allen, he hasn't been god awful in any of the games either. He has been the most consistent Celtic this series and with the up and down play of the Celtics stars in this series, I think you have to give the nod to Rondo for being the most consistent.

The Raptors are holding a free agent camp this weekend, like the one that they found Jamario Moon in a couple years ago, and here are the participants: Alade Aminu F 6-10 09/14/1987 Georgia Tech James Baron G 6-3 05/23/1986 Rhode Island Jaycee Carroll G 6-2 04/16/1983 Utah State Mike Efevberha G/F 6-5 08/22/1984 Cal State Northridge Andre Emmett G/F 6-5 08/27/1982 Texas Tech Gary Forbes G/F 6-7 02/25/1985 Virginia Josh Heytvelt F/C 6-11 06/26/1986 Gonzaga Othello Hunter F 6-8 05/28/1986 Ohio State James Mays F 6-9 03/08/1986 Clemson Jack McClinton G 6-1 01/19/1985 Miami Trent Plaisted F/C 6-11 06/26/1986 BYU Bernard Robinson F 6-6 12/26/1981 Michigan Cheikh Samb F/C 7-1 10/22/1984 Senegal Curtis Stinson G 6-2 02/15/1983 Iowa State Salim Stoudamire G 6-1 10/11/1982 Arizona D.J. Strawberry G/F 6-5 06/15/1985 Maryland A.D. Vassallo G/F 6-6 04/12/1986 Virginia Tech http://raptorsrepublic.com/2010/06/17/free-agent-camp-roster/ I recognize some players that will be attending like Salim Stoudamire, D.J. Strawberyy, Cheikh Samb, Jack McClinton, Josh Heytvelt and Bernard Robinson. I don't know much about anybody else on the list. Take it for what it is worth, but some poster over at RealGM is saying that Alade Aminu is supposedly the best prospect at the camp. I can't really comment on that as all I know is that he has been in the D-League (has career averages of 13.6 ppg/7 rpg on 52%) and was apart of the Miami Heat's roster at some point. Other than that, I know absolutely nothing about him. If he is the best prospect at this camp though, I don't think that the Raptors will be finding anybody to add to the roster, at least judging from his D-League numbers. Maybe a couple of guys get Summer League invites, but that would probably be about it.

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/courtside/2010/06/spanish-boss-sp.html I remember making a thead about Splitter a month or so ago asking about whether or not he will be joining the Spurs this season, and by the sounds of it, it looks like he will be. This won't make the Spurs contenders or anything considering Duncan is aging, Ginobili is unreliable and Parker might not even be with the team, but this does, however, give Duncan the best frontcourt partner in quite some time now. I've always liked Splitter so I really hope that this report is true and he will finally come to the NBA next year.

^^^ I don't really watch many mixes or anything like that, so I don't really know what is considered to be a great mix or anything, but I watched that a couple of days ago and thought that was really well done. I am really excited to see DeRozan next season, and the summer hasn't even started yet, haha. Also, I didn't think that this was worth a new thread, but it applies to this one so I am going to post it here. Amir Johnson won't be playing in the Summer League this year:

Some news concerning the workout that went down earlier today (Bledsoe, Patterson, Geroge and Henry) and Green Room invites: All from Holly MacKenzie's Twitter ( ) Nothing huge as there seems to be less and less information released with each workout the Raptors hold (I basically found nothing about Tuesday's other than the Raptors liked Alabi, which I already knew) and the Raptors seem to be keeping their cards held tight to their chest. I just thought I would post some of this. As far as I know, the Raptors are going to be having one more workout next week sometime before the draft. I think that will be the last workout that they hold, but something could change by then depending on who they can or can't get in. As for the Green Room stuff: Not that it is huge news or anything, but I like to see who they invite to the Green Room because, more often than not, those players are usually picked before the 20th or so. There are the odd guy who drops, but you usually don't see anybody invited to the Green Room sitting there for too long. Anyways, just thought I would pass this information along. EDIT: I found this on RealGM. There are all rumours and speculation, but I found it interesting regardless: -Daniel Orton has a promise from Oklahoma City at 21 - Larry Sanders has a promise from Milwaukee at 15 - Indiana will be selecting either Eric Bledsoe or Avery Bradley - Boston has there minds set on Solomon Alabi at 19 The Boston being set on Alabi doesn't surprise me at all, as I had him penciled in there anyways, the Pacers selecting either Bledsoe or Bradley isn't a surprise either, considering their need of a point guard but Sanders having a promise from Miwaukee at 15 is definitely a shock. Not only is that pretty high for him, but considering somebody like Xavier Henry or Paul George could drop to 15, both of which seem like great fits with the Bucks, it would be a huge shock if they took Sanders over one of them, especially Henry who I think would fit in very nicely with Milwaukee.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5297829 Not a bad trade for both teams. Sacramento gets their defensive minded big (at least when Dalembert has his head on straight) and manage to dump Nocioni's contract. They have a pretty nice rotation of big men now with Dalembert, Thompson, Landry and whoever they pick at 5, so Cousins or Monroe). That is a solid rotation. The Kings have done a nice job of building this team up in my opinion. As for Philly, they finally get rid of Dalembert. This leaves them pretty thin at the 5 though with just Speights and Hawes, so perhaps the rumors about them wanting to acquire a late lottery pick may come true. Anyways, solid deal for both teams. EDIT: Didn't see the thread in the Sixers forum. Sorry about making a 2nd thread.

When I saw this posted on Matt Devlin's Twitter account it kind of took me off guard considering I don't even remember the last time that I heard anything about Mark Price. I wonder if he was working out with Price last summer as well because one thing that really surprised me was how good of a shooter Jack was last season, and I don't recall him being that good of a shooter during his time in Portland or Indiana. We all know how great of a shooter Price was back in his day. Anyways, I just thought that this was worth mentioning.

http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/2010/06/amirs-here-and-wants-to-stay.html I would love to see Johnson back with the Raptos next season, but as long as it is for a reasonable price. No more overpaying for average players as we have seen what kind of position that has put the Raptors in in previous seasons (Antonio Davis, Jerome and Alvin Williams, Jose Calderon, Hedo Turkoglu etc...). If Johnson wants to stay in Toronto for around $4-5M However, if he is looking for anything more than MLE money, I don't know how thrilled I would be with re-signing him for that amount. I think it is a priority to have Amir back next season though as him, DeRozan, Weems and Jack are far and away the hardest workers on this team and have developed an outstanding chemistry with one another.

Couple of things. Chad Ford released his latest mock draft. He has the Raptors taking Avery Bradley for the 3rd straight time (interestingly enough, NBADraft.net and DX both have the Raps taking Bradley as well). He also mentions that the Raptors could give Paul George serious consideration as well. Secondly, I think it is looking clearer and clearer that the Raptors main target if they buy another 1st is Soloman Alabi. They had him in yesterday and were apperantly very impressed with him. People in the organization really love his attitude and has a great head on his shoulders. It is quite clear that Colangelo wants to acquire a center so that Bargnani can move to the 4, and Alabi is one of the biggest players in this class. Lastly, Masai Ujiri was the one who basically discovered Alabi and you can bet that will play a factor. Ford speculated in his mock draft that the Raptors are interested in him as well (along with Portland, OKC, San Antonio and Miami), although he has Alabi going to Boston at 19 which would mean that he wouldn't be on the board if the Raptors were to buy a pick as the earliest I could see is either 23rd (Minnesota) or 24th (Atlanta). I would be pretty happy if the Raptors came out of the draft with Bradley/George at 13 and acquired a later 1st and got Alabi/Orton/Whiteside (if he drops due to maturity concerns)

http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/ Doug also says that DeRozan is looking to improve his dribble penetration while Weems is working on his ball handling and extending his shooting range. I love the work ethic that these two have. They are always in the gym looking to improve.

Does anybody else find it somewhat odd that they are ruling him out so early? It may be because I am used to the NHL playoffs where you never know who is hurt with what injury, but I find it strange that word about Perkins being done for Game 7 was so quick to surface. You would think that the Celtics would be tight lipped about the whole thing and wouldn't show their hand so quickly. I don't know, but something seems a little off to me. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him dress for Game 7. How effective will he be, assuming he does play, is the question though. That injury looked pretty bad considering he wasn't able to put weight on it and judging from the way that it buckled and the way that he was holding it, I wouldn't expect much from him.

In terms of cementing his legacy among the All-Time greats, I think you would have to consider it the biggest game of his career up to this point. Now matter how great of a player Kobe is, how skilled he is, how great his statistics are or how many awards he has won, losing Game 7 and having a career record in the Finals of 4-3 is going to be a blemish on what would otherwise be considered a near flawless resume. You can disagree with me all you want, but in my mind, it would be hard to label Kobe as the greatest player to ever play the game if he finishes his career with a barely above .500 record in the Finals considering Jordan's perfect 6-0 record. Argue about Jordan being on better teams all you want, but Kobe has been the team favoured to win it all during every single trip to the Finals except for maybe 2008 (although a lot of people predicted the Lakers to win, I wasn't one of them however). Kobe is going to go down in history as arguably the most skilled player to ever play the game but if he wants to be recognized as the greatest player to ever play the game, Thursday's game is of the utmost importance as far as I am concerned. Of course Kobe can lose tomorrow but go one to win the next 3 in a row and things could completely change, but as of right now, yes, I would have to say that this is the biggest game of Kobe's career.

I love how Nate is now looked upon as a winner and a great teammate after his play in Game 6 against Orlando and the last 2 games in the Finals, yet earlier in the playoffs people were saying how he isn't getting any playing time because his style of play isn't conclusive to winning and is detrimental to the team. Its funny how a couple of impressive performances make people forget. They are basically the same player but I think Nate is better at creating for himself and because of that, give me Nate despite being nearly a foot shorter than Smith. I have never liked Smith and I have a soft spot for little guys though and I can't deny that plays a factor in my choice.

I was going to give it until the end of the first season and if it didn't grab my attention I was going to just watch something else. Good to know it picks up as the season goes on.

Colangelo has basically said that either Calderon or Jack won't be back next season. I think he said it at his year end press conference and has mentioned something similar a couple of times since then. Everybody around the Raptors basically think it is a forgone conclusion that one of the two will be moved prior to the start of the season. There has been talk of both of them being traded as well. There is a bit of Calderon and Jack talk in the thread I made earlier today titled "Chad Ford: Raptors Cleaning House" or something like that.

I would imagine that the Pacers top the list like you said, but I could also see the Grizzlies picking him up at 12. I don't expect that to happen, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them pick Bradley though. Another scenario, albeit a longshot, would be the Clippers. I don't think that they would reach for Bradley at 8 considering that is pretty high for him, but they could be looking to get a future replacement for Baron Davis and a backcourt of Bradley and Gordon gives you some nice defense and versatility. I would be shocked if they picked him at 8 though. This is hard because our perception of who the top 10 in the draft are could very well be different than Colangelo's perception of the top 10. I can think of only 8 players who look like they are locks in the top 10 and they are: Wall Turner Cousins Favors Monroe Johnson Aminu Davis Then you have guys like Udoh, Aldrich, Henry and George. I wouldn't be all that surprised if Davis fell out of the top 10 as well, although I don't expect it. I would imagine that Aldrich is the specific player that he would be talking about, and depending on how workouts on Thursday go, maybe Henry or George will impress enough for the Raptors to pick up one of them.

Last little piece from the Chad Ford Raptor talk on ESPN. I figured I would just split the blog into 3 seperate topics so that it is more organized. http://proxy.espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/16700/raptors-cleaning-house I think most of us anticipated that the Raptors would want a big man for Bosh, and it is very nice to see that they aren't too worried about filling a need through the draft and will be, seemingly, picking who they believe is the BPA. As for Bosh, if they do trade him, who are the bigs that you would expect them to hope for? Obviously there is David Lee and Andrew Bynum who have been the most talked about players. You have Joakim Noah, but I would be shocked if the Bulls traded him. Miami and New Jersey don't really have anything that I could see as the Raptors aren't interested in Beasley and there is no way that the Nets give up Lopez, so unless they are trading the 3rd pick, I don't see much there either. Anyways, just thought I would post this as well.

I posted this in the draft discussion thread as well, but I figured it was worthy of its own thread so that people who normally wouldn't go into the draft thread will be able to comment on it, if they want to. http://proxy.espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/16700/raptors-cleaning-house Those of you who have been in the draft thread know that I really like Bradley, so obviously I would be thrilled if they draft him. He still has a long way to go before he is a point guard in the NBA, but you can't deny his defensive ability, length, athleticism and potential for the future. If Turkoglu is still on the team, which is looking more and more unlikely, he is an even better fit as it would allow him to work off of the ball and as a shooter, which he can do, while Turkoglu handles the majority of the ball handling. A backcourt of Bradley and DeRozan heading forward is something that I would be very pleased with. That would make up the most athletic duo that the Raptors have had since McGrady and Carter were on the team. At the very least, they will be an exciting duo to watch. If the Raptors do end up taking Bradley, it will be nice to see them moving away from unathletic shooters like Calderon, Kapono, Garbajosa (although I liked him and Calderon when he was a backup) etc... and replacing them with athletic players like Bradley, DeRozan and Weems.

Ok so, I know of some more names coming to Toronto for the workouts. As I already mentioned, Xavier Henry, Paul George and Eric Bledsoe are going to be coming to workout, but according to Chad Ford, Hassan Whiteside and Soloman Alabi are also going to be coming to Toronto for a workout sometime this week. Avery Bradley was scheduled for a second workout, but because of his ankle injury, he won't be working out. However, he will be coming to Toronto for interviews and things like that. And news on Colangelo trading for another pick in the 20's: And, lastly, there is now speculation that Avery Bradley will be the Raptors pick at 13 unless somebody in the top 10 falls to 13. http://proxy.espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/16700/raptors-cleaning-house EDIT: I found out the exact details of the workouts on Tuedsay and Thrusday: Tuesday Damian James, Texas Quincy Pondexter, Washington Hassan Whiteside, Marshall Soloman Alabi, Florida State Thursday Xavier Henry, Kansas Eric Bledsoe, Kentucky Paul George, Fresno State Patrick Patterson, Kentucky Avery Bradley, Texas Like I said, Bradley probably won't workout though, due to his ankle injury.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/16700/raptors-cleaning-house http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/67188/20100614/raptors_very_active_in_trade_talks/ Chad Ford isn't exactly the most credible person in the world, so I don't know if things are exactly as he makes them out to be, but I think this is fairly accurate considering everybody knows that the Raptors need to make a huge splash in order to keep Bosh and that they have been actively shopping Turkoglu, Jack and Calderon. It is very nice to see that there is some new rumblings on the Turkoglu front though. I would be happy with just dumping his contract, but if the Raptors can actually get some sort of value in return for him I will be absolutely estatic. This should definitely be a fun offseason when it comes to the Raptors though. I completely expect Colangelo to make multiple moves and am confident that they will be a much different team come the 2010/11 season. EDIT: I forgot to touch upon the Bosh situation. It is very nice to hear that the Raptors aren't basically conceding the fact that he is gone and are looking to make moves that will keep him in Toronto. Although I don't believe Bosh will ever be the best player on a championship team and have basically come to terms with the fact that he most likely won't be back (although I haven't completely given up hope) it would really suck to see Bosh leave. Losing a 23/10 big man is never something that you want to do, and it is even worse considering he was the face of the Raptors franchise. Losing him like they lost Stoudamire and Carter would really suck. Anyways, this is finally some good news considering this offseason it has been basically nothing but Turkoglu talk, Bosh leaving and other sort of doom and gloom topics, haha.

I would be absolutely shocked if he fell to 14, which is why I didn't mention him. I honestly think that he will be a top 10 pick and somebody like the Clippers will snatch him up in a heart beat. To be perfectly honest, I think he is a better prospect than Al-Farouq Aminu and he is the top small forward in this class as far as I am concerned. I liked him from the beginning, but once the Raptors fell out of the playoffs and I knew that they would have a pick I really started to pay attention to the prospects available, and he has really grown on me to the point where, like I said above, I think he is the top small forward in the draft and could go in the top 10. If he falls to Houston at 14, it would be a superb pickup, but I just don't see him falling past New Orleans, Memphis and Toronto. Maybe one of them, but not all three of them that it would take for Houston to pick him up. This draft is going to be really unpredictable though. Usually I feel fairly confident that I know how a draft will play out and have been fairly accurate with my predictions, but I can honestly say that outside of the top 5 or 6, I have absolutely no idea how this draft will go down. It will make for a very entertaining draft, that is for sure. And thanks for the info Dash!

I started watching Season 1 on the computer last night (watched the first 2 episodes) and I'm not really sure what to think about this show. Vampires have never really been something that has ever interested me, but I have heard so many people say good things about this show that I thought I would check it out. I'll give it another couple of episodes but I really don't know if this is something that I will continue watching.